Our Journey and Other Things

Standards

Today I sit at what is supposed to be Chicago’s premier coffee shop. Intelligentsia. Sure when I got my Americano, I was excited to drink it. But then I noticed that there was no crema.

Who stole my crema!?!?

Nick asked me, “Aren’t you being a little harsh?” No. We see this happen all the time. When you’re supposed to be the best, what is expected of you is increased. Our standards are raised when we hear, oh this is the best coffee shop. That’s why Broncos fans are disappointed with Manning so often . He is a highly paid, experienced, top quarterback. What we require of him is completely different than our third string rookie quarterback.

To take this further, I think this concept is Biblical. Luke 12:48(b) says, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” Now this is a parable from Jesus to the disciples about being watchful and wise servant. Jesus says, do what’s right because the Master will come home and find either a trustworthy servant or a servant who deserves to be beaten. If he trusts us with a little and we do well, then the Master continues to trust… And demands more from us.

So how does this apply? We trust things to be a certain way, we have standards just like the Master has for his servants. If he comes back home and they aren’t doing what he expected, there is a punishment. A judgement. So what I expect of the “best” coffee shop, should be delivered right? Or am I being selfish?

But this whole thing is to say that this is what it’s like to be a Christian. People expect us to behave and act like good humans. That’s like the bare minimum transformation that we should go through. Become kind. That’s what Jesus was like. As his servants we should be doing what the Master wants. We should have a standard that is expected from us. No so that we will fail, but so we will not disappoint when the Master returns.